People who bought this also bought...

Dominion

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany. The global economy strains against the weight of the long German war against Russia still raging in the east. The British people find themselves under increasingly authoritarian rule - the press, radio, and television tightly controlled, the British Jews facing ever greater constraints.

The Siege Winter: A Novel

1141. England is engulfed in war as King Stephen and his cousin, the Empress Matilda, vie for the crown. In this dangerous world, not even Emma, an 11-year-old peasant, is safe. A depraved monk obsessed with redheads kidnaps the ginger-haired girl from her village and leaves her for dead. When an archer for hire named Gwyl finds her, she has no memory of her previous life.

The Invention of Fire: A Novel

Though he is one of England's most acclaimed intellectuals, John Gower is no stranger to London's wretched slums and dark corners, and he knows how to trade on the secrets of the kingdom's most powerful men. When the bodies of 16 unknown men are found in a privy, the sheriff of London seeks Gower's help. The men's wounds - ragged holes created by an unknown object - are unlike anything the sheriff's men have ever seen. Tossed into the sewer, the bodies were meant to be found.

Winter in Madrid

Winter in Madrid is set just after the bloody Spanish Civil War, with World War II looming over Europe. Reluctantly, Harry Brett looks for an old schoolmate who's become a person of interest for British intelligence.

A Burnable Book: A Novel

London, 1385: Surrounded by ruthless courtiers - including his powerful uncle, John of Gaunt, and Gaunt's artful mistress, Katherine Swynford - England's young king, Richard II, is in mortal peril. Songs are heard across London - catchy verses said to originate from an ancient book that prophesies the ends of England's kings - and among the book's predictions is Richard's assassination. Only a few powerful men know that the cryptic lines derive from a "burnable book", a seditious work that threatens the stability of the realm.

The Sacred Stone

Masters of the historical mystery, authors Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden, Simon Beaufort, and C.J. Sansom band together as The Medieval Murderers to craft this thrilling tale. In 1067 Greenland, a strange stone falls from the sky. Over the next 600 years, violence and death follow whoever possesses it, including crusading knights, a dying King Henry III, and a troupe of His Majesty King James I’s players.

Absolution by Murder: A Sister Fidelma Mystery

In AD 664 King Oswy of Northumbria has convened a synod at Whitby to hear debate between the Roman and Celtic Christian Churches and decide which shall be granted primacy in his kingdom. At stake is much more than a few disputed points of ritual; Oswy's decision could affect the survival of either Church in the Saxon kingdoms. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered, suspicion falls upon the Roman faction.

What Angels Fear: Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1

It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.

Vita Brevis: A Crime Novel of the Roman Empire: Medicus, Book 7

Ruso and Tilla's excitement at arriving in Rome with their new baby daughter is soon dulled by their discovery that the grand facades of polished marble mask an underworld of corrupt landlords and vermin-infested tenements. There are also far too many doctors - some skilled - but others positively dangerous.

Murder as a Fine Art

Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater", is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London 43 years earlier. The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts". Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter, Emily, and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.

Inspector of the Dead

The year is 1855. The Crimean War is raging. The incompetence of British commanders causes the fall of the English government. The empire teeters. Amid this crisis comes opium-eater Thomas De Quincey, one of the most notorious and brilliant personalities of Victorian England. Along with his irrepressible daughter, Emily, and their Scotland Yard companions, Ryan and Becker, De Quincey finds himself confronted by an adversary who threatens the heart of the nation.

A Great Reckoning: A Novel

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

The Tudor Secret: The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles, Book 1

The summer of 1553 is a time of danger and deceit. Brendan Prescott, an orphan, has been reared in the household of the powerful Dudley family. Brought to court, Prescott finds himself sent on an illicit mission to the king’s brilliant but enigmatic sister, Princess Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon compelled to work as a double agent by Elizabeth’s protector, William Cecil, who promises in exchange to help him unravel the secret of his own mysterious past.

The King's Hounds: 1

The year is 1018 and the war with England is finally over, but the unified kingdom ruled by Cnut of Denmark is far from peaceful. Halfdan has lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, now he wanders the country aimlessly powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a bookish former monk, the two set out together for Oxford, the seat of the new king.

The King's Spy

Summer, 1643: England is at war with itself. King Charles I has fled London, his negotiations with Parliament in tatters. The country is consumed by bloodshed. For Thomas Hill, a man of letters quietly running a bookshop in the rural town of Romsey, knowledge of the war is limited to the rumours that reach the local inn. When a stranger knocks on his door one night and informs him that the king's cryptographer has died, everything changes.

Speaks the Nightbird

The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies -- and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal....

Crowned and Dangerous

Nothing is simple when you're 35th in line for the British crown, least of all marriage. But with love on their side and plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau, Darcy O'Mara, hope to bypass a few royal rules....

The Trespasser: A Novel

Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.

The Cuckoo's Calling

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: his sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

A Terrible Beauty: A Lady Emily Mystery

On a quest to distract her lifelong friend Jeremy from his recent heartbreak, Lady Emily organizes a holiday in Greece. As a lover of all things Greek, she quickly finds herself occupied with tours of ancient ruins; lively debates with Margaret, a devoted Latinist; and slightly more scandalous endeavors with her dashing husband, Colin Hargreaves. But the pleasantries are brought to an abrupt halt when a man long believed dead greets the party at their island villa.

Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on-his-luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. After a 36-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner. And before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar.

The Tudor Vendetta

London, 1558. Queen Mary is dead, and twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth ascends the throne. Summoned to court from exile abroad, Elizabeth's intimate spy, Brendan Prescott, is reunited with the young queen, as well as his beloved Kate, scheming William Cecil, and archrival Robert Dudley.

The Anatomist’s Apprentice: The Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mysteries, Book 1

The death of Lord Edward Crick has unleashed a torrent of gossip through the seedy taverns and elegant ballrooms of Oxfordshire. Few mourn the dissolute young man - except his sister, the beautiful Lady Lydia Farrell. When her husband comes under suspicion of murder, she seeks expert help from Dr. Thomas Silkstone, a young anatomist from Philadelphia. Thomas arrived in England to study under its foremost surgeon, where his unconventional methods only add to his outsider status. Against his better judgment, he agrees to examine Lord Edward’s corpse.

Shadow of the Serpent: An Inspector McLevy Mystery 1

London had Sherlock Holmes. The dark alleys of Edinburgh had Inspector McLevy. Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the first in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh.

Publisher's Summary

As Henry VIII lies on his deathbed, an incendiary manuscript threatens to tear his court apart.

Summer, 1546. King Henry VIII is slowly, painfully dying. His Protestant and Catholic councilors are engaged in a final and decisive power struggle; whoever wins will control the government. As heretics are hunted across London, and radical Protestants are burned at the stake, the Catholic party focuses its attack on Henry's sixth wife - and Matthew Shardlake's old mentor - Queen Catherine Parr.

Shardlake, still haunted by his narrow escape from death the year before, steps into action when the beleaguered and desperate Queen summons him to Whitehall Palace to help her recover a dangerous manuscript. The Queen has authored a confessional book, Lamentation of a Sinner, so radically Protestant that if it came to the King's attention it could bring both her and her sympathizers crashing down. Although the secret book was kept hidden inside a locked chest in the Queen's private chamber, it has inexplicably vanished. Only one page has been recovered - clutched in the hand of a murdered London printer.

Shardlake's investigations take him on a trail that begins among the backstreet printshops of London, but leads him and his trusty assistant Jack Barak into the dark and labyrinthine world of court politics, a world Shardlake swore never to enter again. In this crucible of power and ambition, Protestant friends can be as dangerous as Catholic enemies, and those with shifting allegiances can be the most dangerous of all.

Where does Lamentation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is an excellent detective story set in Tudor Times. It is the sixth of a series featuring Mathew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer and sleuth. Although this particular novel is excellent, it is not my favorite of the series (that continues to be "Sovereign"). "Lamentation" is a very rich and entertaining experience, and absolute heaven for a reader like me, who loves historical novels and murder mysteries/detectives stories almost equally. This series of novels is extremely well written. The characters are exquisitely developed; we find some famous Tudor figures such as archbishop Cramner and Catherine Parr playing parts in the intricate plot but there are many totally fictional characters that are equally or more important than the historical figures; it is the ordinary Tudor citizen that really brings to the reader the richness of the times. The novels are very well researched and as historically accurate as fictional pieces such as these can be

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot keeps you interested and the writer manages to move the story forward at a pretty good pace although the reader gets to know characters who may not necessarily be central to the plot very well and all of this contributes to making the times jump at the reader. Before you know it, you are really in the filthy streets of Tudor London talking to a street urchin or watching a nobleman and his retinue heading to court.

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator is excellent. I believe all the Shardlake books I have heard are narrated by him. He inhabits the character so well that to me he is Shardlake.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and no. I love historical novels and like to savor those, such as this one, that immerse you in the times. I have come to care about some of these characters (there are several that accompany Shardlake through other offerings in the series) and I like to enjoy my time with them. The mystery is almost an excuse...

Any additional comments?

I strongly recommend this book and the entire series, as a matter of fact. If you are not a lover of historical fiction you may get the bug after reading one of these. Yes, we already know Henry and his matrimonial issues; we know his queens and of course, we know that Catherine Parr was the last and very well educated and we may even know that he had problems with her over religion and almost had her imprisoned but that in the end he died with her as his queen. But who cares! When Mathew Shardlake is called to court to help locate a compromising book written by the Queen (without Henry's knowledge) called "Lamentations of a Sinner" that has been stolen...we get on his horse "Genesis" with him and go there...at full gallop!

As always with C. J. Sansom's Shardlake series I anxiously awaited this books release. It is well worth the wait, and it seems to me that the series just keeps getting better. I feel very invested in the characters at this point . So watching Shardlake and his household navigate one of the most fraught periods of Henry VIII's reign was fascinating. As usual Sansom's knowledge about the very complicated political and religious landscape shows through, as the fictional characters dance effortlessly with the real actors in the last days of one of histories most infamous kings. I happily give this 5 stars.

As a devoted Shardlake fan, Lamentation served up some twists and turns I totally failed to see coming. The character development deepened and I felt like Matthew was more human, more vulnerable in this novel than he has been previously.

This is a can't-miss series for readers/listeners who want detailed, historical fiction. Five stars all the way.

I was so excited to finally see Lamentations available on Audible, and it did not disappoint. If you haven't yet read any of the Shardlake series, an amazing mystery series set in Tudor times, start with the first, Dissolution. If you're already a fan and wondering whether the latest is as good as the others in the series: Yes! In fact, this one may be my favorite so far. Shardlake once again is called to aid Katherine Parr against the advice of his friends and confederates. The matter is so secret that even when he needs their help, he cannot tell them why. The book opens with the chilling account of the burning of Anne Askew, setting the stage for just how dangerous it was in Henry's London to voice heretical opinions. Sansom brings once again a brilliant and plausible interweaving of a fictional plot with historical events; memorable characters; edge-of-your-seat suspense; and details describing Tudor London that brings it vividly to life; Crossley does it full justice as narrator and the voice of Matthew Shardlake.